Filming Blog: We Finally Filmed!

On February 22nd, 2020, our group met up at the designated location to start filming for the final project. Everyone met up at a local McDonald's, a fast food chain, in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Each actor was able to show up on the day of filming except for Jakari who encountered traffic and called ahead of time that he was not gonna make it. First, everyone reviewed the props that was brought and the script that was printed out for each person to have. While everyone was reviewing each item one by one, food was provided in the beginning to prevent anyone from going too hungry later on during the day. As originally planned, most of our film's parking lot scenes were covered on that day of filming, but we did not film in chronological order. The first scene recorded was the part where both of the kidnappers are creating a video to send stating the victim will be released in exchange for cash. The first scene recorded was more in an open area within the parking lot. Then, for the rest of the scenes we moved to a small sort of alleyway in order to not draw too much attention and to not get in the way of cars coming by. The next scene shot was when my character, Brooklyn, receives a message from the kidnappers and runs to warn the rest of the group members. For that particular scene, our group had to rerecord at least four different times since I kept smiling on camera while my character was supposed to be serious at the moment. Next up we recorded the scene where the kidnappers successfully captures the victim, named Rachel, and is dragging her away. For that particular scene, no one got hurt and we made sure that the person playing as the victim was not tugged too hard, rather softly. At least two rerecords were done for that particular scene stated. After, we filmed the scene where kidnapper #1 is shown tying up the victim to a small chair, while kidnapper #2 is setting up the laptop for the ransom video that was previously recorded in the very first scene. Our group made sure that the rope was loosely tied around the person playing the victim to avoid rope burns and any other injuries. Then Rejoice, a fellow group member, recorded the establishing shot in a form of a tilt to show the location right before the scene where both kidnappers are gonna drag the victim comes to play. At least two rerecords was done for the establishing shot since the names of local stores kept coming to the camera's view and we wanted to avoid capturing any names on screen. Finally, the last scene recorded was a small comedy relief where two of the victim's friends are having a conversation while on the mission to search for clues. In the end, our group was able to capture most of our movie scenes and plan to have another recording someday where every scene will be fully captured and ready for editing.

 This was the setting for most of our scenes; this was the scene where my character, Brooklyn, receives a text message from the kidnappers.

As shown from the picture, I am smiling on camera where my character is meant to be serious which called for a retake afterwards.

Before the camera stopped rolling, I couldn't contain my laughter any longer and all the giggles just came out.